SUPERANNUATION funds would be willing to invest in a baseload power station and other major infrastructure for North Queensland if the right deals were put on the table.

Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia chief executive officer Pauline Vamos said fund managers were keen to invest in infrastructure and were closely watching the Government’s campaign to develop Northern Australia.

Ms Vamos said projects needed to be presented at a ‘ready to invest’ stage with safe returns, rather than in a concept stage.

“The biggest issue is, there is nothing to invest in,” she said.

“If it is a good deal, we will invest.

“The money is there, but the deals are not there.”

Townsville’s unified submission to the Joint Select Committee for the development of Northern Australia recommends the Government push harder to convince super funds to invest in infrastructure, such as a power station.

The strategy is seen as a solution to the Government’s lack of capital.

Townsville Chamber vice-president Troy Popham said fund managers could be attracted to invest, but they needed projects providing a reliable financial return.

“The only obstacles I see for super funds (investing in new infrastructure) is their investment strategies, because they run under pretty tight rules on what they can invest in,” he said.

Mr Popham said the right circumstances could be created to get super funds on board for projects in the north, especially if they saw the customer base existed for the project.

Ms Vamos said super funds were already active in infrastructure, with between 7-9 per cent of their capital invested in that area.

While there is some talk of changing regulations to make it easier for super funds to invest in infrastructure, Ms Vamos said the industry was not held back by regulations and no changes were needed in that area.

“We need more investable assets on the table,” she said.

“We need state governments to actually put state-based assets up for sale.

“We need to get the bid process right, as it costs between $5 million and $20 million to make a bid for an infrastructure asset.”

Comments on this story

Millie of Townsville Posted at 9:53 AM March 26, 2014

Why are potential Townsville investors saying "there is nothing to invest" in here? Why are there no infrastructure projects ready to go? Something is very wrong when the best those paid a lot of money to market this city can offer is sell off the port.

Justin Posted at 8:29 PM March 25, 2014

Please build infrastructure in Proserpine and upgrade the Bruce Highway to dual carriageway and flood proof it at the Goorganga Wetlands by building flyovers.

Bill Posted at 3:45 PM March 25, 2014

Great idea but only if the power station runs initially on gas so it operates only when required and can easily vary the output. Eventually it should be replaced by renewable energy sources such as solar turbines (already developed in Australia) where excess heat generated during the day is stored (in liquid NaCl or similar) to be released when needed after dark. Please, do not even contemplate a coal powered station - they are expensive dinosaurs that have to operate continually as they take up to 3 days to power up if shut down and are very inefficient.